Why we do the things we do

Do you ever ask yourself why you do the things you do? For most of us, it was the way we were raised, or even cultural. You do things out of habit, never questioning the how or why and never giving it a second thought. Here’s a few examples. I’m certain you can come up with more but consider these, food for thought.

Superstitions
These are usually passed down from generation to generation, but it’s one thing I never believed, even as a child. This one comes to mind immediately… I remember spending the night with my cousins, and in the morning, the three of us were making the bed, when our mom’s entered the room horrified, and stopped us in our tracks saying, “Three people should never make a bed, or the youngest one will die!” WHAT? WHAT? It’s an old Italian superstition and one I found silly then, and now.

Then I recall going over to my highly superstitious neighbor’s house when I was fourteen and purposely walking into her house with an umbrella over my head, then knocking over a shaker of salt, just to see her freak out! I loved teasing her. She did laugh once she got over it but cautioned me that I was testing my luck. Nah!

So, how many of you let superstitions rule your life, even though you realize there’s absolutely no validity to any of them.

Obsessed with being clean
Do you shower every day regardless? Studies show that showering every day removes the normal protective layer of oil and a balance of “good” bacteria that help protect your skin. Stripping away this layer can lead to dry, irritated, itchy skin. And in some cases, can lead to infections. Antibacterial soaps can add to this by killing off the natural bacterial protection against more infectious germs on the skin that are harder to treat.

And along the same lines. It’s not uncommon for people to wash their hair seven days a week, regardless. All of this cleaning can lead to dry, damaged hair. But the culture seems to be swinging the other way, at least in part. They may be on to something. Most people don’t need to wash their hair daily, or even every other day. How often you should wash your hair depends on quite a few factors. The basic answer, according to Seattle-based integrative dermatologist Elizabeth Hughes, is that you should wash it once it’s oily and feels unclean to the touch. Hey, if you’re having a bad hair day, then shampoo away. If it looks good, leave it be. Hmmm! This should be common sense. And you’ll be saving on water usage too.

Wearing makeup
I remember older relatives and friends who never got up in the morning without applying makeup. Nothing wrong with that, but I save it for certain occasions. If I’m going to be home all day, working in the garden, or just lazing around, I don’t bother. I realize that my husband, and my friends love me the way I am, so I feel no need to “put on a daily face”. I feel just as good with or without it. It’s quite freeing.

Only eating foods at certain times of the day
Most of us were brought up with the idea that we had to have breakfast stuff at breakfast, lunch stuff at lunch and dinner stuff at dinner. As I got older, I realized that it was silly, and that I could eat whatever I wanted, when I wanted. So, if I had leftover lasagna, and really craved that at 8am, I could eat that and not feel guilty. And if I want scrambled eggs and toast, or a bowl of cereal for dinner, well I was entitled to that too.